Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Last Time the Steelers Drafted 15th Overall...

Prior to this past April, the last time the Steelers selected 15th in the first round of the NFL draft was in 1991, Chuck Noll's last year as head coach. And, as in 2007, the team selected a linebacker from the state of Florida—a youngster named Huey Richardson (University of Florida)—who arguably remains the worst draft choice in the organization's history. Richardson was credited with, oh, maybe two tackles during his rookie year, and the following summer was jettisoned by rookie head coach Bill Cowher (traded to Washington for a late-round draft choice), a remarkably short tenture for a first-round selection.

In fairness to the Steelers, the 1991 first round didn't yield many quality players, Herman Moore (Detroit, #10) and Ted Washington (San Francisco, #25) being two notable examples. In fact, the 1991 first round was filled with players who failed to live up to expectations, including QB's Dan McGwire (Seattle, #16) and Todd Marinovich (L.A. Raiders, #24), not to mention uber project Eric Swann (Phoenix, #6).